When Stars Fall
by Zaphyr Stone
Summary: They came from different walks of life, but a common destiny pulled them together. In the midst of a growing war, two lost souls connect. Now as the carnage rages around them, they must not only fight to save their home, but to also protect each other. Miyu/Fay Romance
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **Guess who's back. _Back again. _After a century and a half, I'm back with a new fic! I've been wanting to write this one for a long time honestly, and it feels good to finally bring this to life. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

A flicker was all they saw. A momentary flash of color almost too brief for the eye to register, the screeching grind of metal on metal, and it was over. All that remained was the small field of debris floating listlessly in the lonely vacuum of space, the faces of the motionless pilots frozen in crippling shock. They had little time to react before they were descended upon, their makeshift graveyard a solemn reminder of the isolation of their post on the far outskirts of Lylat. Amidst the wreckage, a single beacon suddenly flickered to life, some miraculous but cruel spin of fate stirring it to a brief activation. The beady red light blinked only once or twice before it fizzled out, and as the lone signal shot forth on it's long and lonely pilgrimage, the dying light reflected for a minute moment against some hidden ripple in space. The distortion paused only for a moment before slithering away, leaving a distant and cold stillness in its wake.

* * *

The Cornerian Military Command Center was unusually abuzz with activity for the graveyard shift. General Pepper squirmed weakly in the cramped lift, feeling a twinge of claustrophobia setting in as he silently prayed his floor would be next. He strained against the hot, sweaty bodies crammed inside with him like sardines and made a mental note to just take the stairs next time. He could barely see the floor indicator hit 20, and with a surge of energy squeezed through the tight quarters and out into the fresh air-conditioned hallway outside the open lift doors.

The old hound took a moment to collect himself, brushed out the wrinkles on what had once been a freshly pressed uniform and proceeded down the hall. He passed several glass-walled office on the way, all of them in a flurry of anxious activity that made his own fur prickle with unease. The raucous cacophony of fluttering paper reports, erratic keystrokes and anxious hushed whispers was enough to put anyone on edge, especially when it all fell silent as he passed each office. He sped up to a healthy clip, boots clacking rhythmically against the smooth steel paneling, and stopped at a secured private lift at the end of the hall. Fishing out his key card, he quickly swiped it through the access port, and with a click and soft chime, the door unlocked and allowed him to ride the lift up to the main bridge.

In the heart of the circular control tower, the wall-length window panes revealed a full view of the glittering Corneria City at nighttime. The general would have gladly taken a moment to fully appreciate the precious crown jewel of Lylat, but the sense of urgency hanging stagnant in the air around him reminded him of the task at hand.

"General on deck!" a red husky officer called out, straightening up.

His comrades followed suit, swiftly rising from their stations to stand at attention.

"At ease," General Pepper raised his hand with an impatient harrumph.

His aide, a lanky cheetah in olive drab, hurried up to him with a tablet. "Sorry to have called you over here so late, sir, but this is the sit-rep."

Pepper perused the rather brief report on the display. "A distress beacon? For crying out loud, Winston, you called me all the way over here for this? This is the modern digital age, you know, we have text communication." he glared at his aide, "Has a response team been sent out?"

Yes sir, a small task force responded immediately." Winston suppressed a small roll of the eyes. The General was understandably cranky but rather quick on the trigger, "_That's_ what I called you here for. There were two distress beacons. The one I called you here for was the distress call from the response team."

"The response team?" Pepper's eye's widened with alarm.

"Yes, sir, and I'm afraid that's not all." the young cheetah turned to key in a command on his control panel.

A video with fuzzy picture quality popped up in the monitor. Through the noise and static, a narrow view of space from a cockpit window registered barely. A faint shimmer on the port side revealed chunks of wreckage floating adrift. Suddenly a powerful stream of light ripped across the dark expanse, cutting through a small heavy carrier in a burst of fire. The light from the explosion overpowered the small dash cam's visual processor for a moment, the screen whiting out.

Pepper squinted against the harsh light, barely able to make out a very brief but odd flickering off to one side. The whole scene suddenly shook, the stars in the background veering wildly this way and that. The nose of another fighter came into view as the ship appeared to collide head on with it, and the video succumbed to static.

"What the hell was that supposed to be?" Pepper growled warily, eyes narrowed.

"This was the only salvageable video feed that we could put together from the task force's last signal. This was about an hour ago."

"I see." the General nodded, "Deploy Bulldog and Husky Units and have a live feed active. I need to see just wha—"

The power to the command deck vanished without warning, only the dim emergency lights reflecting the looks of shock and alarm shared by everyone. The monitors fizzled and popped to life, the symbol of an ape's face against a dark background appearing briefly on screen before being replaced by an obscured but unmistakably simian face.

"You thought you had done away with me." a distorted and gravely voice crackled over the speakers, "You thought you could sweep me away under the rug, a blemish in your pristine palace, but you were gravely mistaken. I cannot be contained. I will not be denied. You destroyed everything, and yet here I am stronger than ever. To those who dared to stand against me, know this. Your reckoning is at hand. And to those unwilling few, I can only give you the small comfort of a quick and painless end. Revenge will be mine, Cornerian scum." a bead of red light shone on the left side of the creature's face, a single eye piercing coldly into the hearts of all who saw it, and the room in the video lit up to reveal the gnarled and scarred face of a very grizzled ape, the red light belonging to a cybernetic implant replacing his left eye, "I will not rest until every last one of you has paid for my injustice in blood."

The video timed out, and power was restored almost instantly to the deck. All that could be heard was the faint hum of the equipment rebooting, everyone in too much shock to say anything.

"Andross." General Pepper breathed, his voice no more than a gentle murmur.

"S-Sir!" a pug stammered, eyes glued to his radar, "Reports are coming in from the satellite array. There's a huge surge of energy being read from the outpost near Venom. A mobile station has just…_appeared_ near the planet."

"A station? How can that be?" The general fought to maintain composure.

"IPBM's have been launched and are inbound."

"Deploy the fleet; I want those missiles destroyed before they come anywhere near us!" he barked.

The command deck erupted to life, and the old hound turned to his aide. "Winston!"

"Sir!" the cheetah sprang to action, brown eyes wide.

"I'll assemble the council for an emergency meeting. Get Fox McCloud on the horn."

"Enlist Star Fox, sir? But their last communication said they would be unavailable while they repaired and upgraded from their last assignment."

"Then we better hope they're flight-ready. We need all the help we can get." As he stepped into the lift, he thought back to the powerful laser that had destroyed the carrier in the dash cam feed, "And we better hope it will still be enough."

* * *

**Author's Note:** And so the war begins. Let me know what y'all think so far in the reviews! Are you intrigued? Wanting to know why Fay and Miyu were not in the first chapter of what was very clearly advertised as a Fay/Miyu fic? All will be answered in the following chapter! Ta-Ta for now!


	2. Chapter 1 - Miyu Lynx

**Chapter 1: Miyu Lynx**

* * *

"I'm sure by now you've all seen the news." Fox's tail swished anxiously as he paced around the small round table in their briefing room, "But it's been confirmed officially. Andross is alive."

"I'd love to know how exactly!" Falco squawked angrily, feathers ruffled, "We all saw him blasted halfway across the sector!"

"I'd like to know too, Falco, but the fact of the matter is he's here, and he's out for blood now." Peppy gave a tired sigh as he nursed a cup of coffee, "Y'all all saw the message. He's not stopping 'til every last one of us has kicked the bucket. And you know who he's coming for first."

"I'd like to see that bastard try." the bird huffed indignantly, "He wants another ass-whoopin' that bad; I'll give it to him."

"No, we need to be careful about this." Fox quickly reined his team back in, "Peppy's right. Andross is going to pull out all the stops this time, and so do we if we want any hope of stopping him. Slippy, how are the upgrades coming along?"

Slippy shook his head helplessly, "Only two of the new Interceptor Class Arwings are flight-ready. Our old fighters can be ready with a little tuning up, but a lot of the old problems we had with them will still be there."

"There isn't any kind of workaround for that?" Falco asked.

"The Interceptors _are_ the workaround." Slippy explained, "The original Arwing design has inherent flaws in it that the newer model is now designed without. They can still fly as well as they did before, but things like speed and maneuverability aren't going to be able to be upgraded."

"It's fine, Slip, anything that can be done is better than nothing." Fox reassured him, "So we have four working ships at least. That's a start."

"I mean, _technically_ we have six." Slippy croaked awkwardly.

"Somethin' on your mind, Slip?" Peppy asked.

"I-I well," the fidgety toad nervously drummed his fingers on the table as he chose his next words carefully, "It's like you said, Fox. We're going to have to pull out all the stops if we want to make it out. We have six ships and four pilots. Why let two extra ships go to waste if we can fill them with extra manpower?"

"We don't have time to train a brand new pilot." Falco rolled his eyes, "Let alone two."

"I'm inclined to agree with Falco." Fox nodded, "I like where your head's at, Slip, but Star Fox is an elite squad. We can't afford to pause to integrate two new pilots, get them used to the Arwings and test them both."

"W-Well, maybe we don't have to!" Slippy countered quickly, "There's a pilot with the CDF I've been working with. She's been handling the test flights for the Interceptor Class. She's a phenomenal pilot, and she already knows the Interceptor like the back of her hand. I know she'd come on board if she were invited."

Fox thought about this for a moment, his expression pensive. The whole of Corneria was on alert in response to this new threat. The Defense Fleet was already deployed and countering the attack as best they could, but they needed help. With Andross' upgraded reinforcements, they were going to have to rise to meet them. His mechanic proposed a good point. Perhaps it was time to expand Star Fox to counter this new threat.

"I was already planning on meeting with her today. You're more than welcome to come with me and give her a trial run." Slippy added in when the silence had gone on a little longer than he had liked.

Fox finally nodded, green eyes sharp and resolute. "All right, I'll go with you and meet with her. What's her name?"

"Fay." Slippy smiled with relief, "Fay Spaniel."

"Well, that's one." Peppy hummed, "We still need someone else with a heaping helping of flight experience. And most of those pilots are out there right now in the fray."

"I…may know someone." Falco conceded awkwardly, smoothing back the crest of feathers atop his head, "It's not a sure thing, but I may be able to talk her into it."

"That doesn't sound exactly promising." Fox raised a quizzical brow.

"Nah, not exactly, but she's a damn fine pilot. Her name's Miyu. We flew in the same circles for a while there. Then she joined the CDF, and I teamed up with you guys. I'm not sure what happened, but after the first war, she left and totally abandoned flying. If I can convince her to come try it out, she'd be a _huge_ asset to the team."

Fox hung his head in defeat and gave a small groan in response. It was hardly a lead, but it was the best they had. "Well…if it's what we've got, it's what we've got. You know where she is now?"

"Yeah, she's here on Corneria. We're in touch enough for me to be able to track her down." Falco nodded.

"Okay. Go find her and see if she'll come by the hangar for a tryout. We have _zero time, _so we need to move forward after this, pilots or no pilots. Let's meet back here at noon, and hopefully we'll have a test to watch.

* * *

The sun was a thin orange line on the horizon when the tram pulled in to the Azure Coastline Station. Dozens of passengers filed out of the tram as the doors slid open, and Miyu took a moment to stretch after being cramped in one position for the entire ride.

Despite her last name, she wasn't a purebred lynx, her long, striped, white-tipped tail betraying her otherwise bobcat appearance. She secretly enjoyed the confusion this caused for those just meeting her. The awkward looks on their faces as they battled between figuring it out on their own or summing up the courage to awkwardly ask about her heritage was like candy to her. It made her day and gave her a good laugh every time.

"Jumpsuits aren't really your thing." came a familiar sarcastic crowing.

She jumped in surprise at the sudden voice and briefly looked down at her utility uniform, a navy jumpsuit with her name on a patch sewn into the left breast pocket. Even she had to admit it wasn't a good look for her, but a job was a job. She then looked back to see a familiar deep blue avian with those trademark red accents.

"Jesus, you scared me!" she hissed, tail lashing as she calmed down, "So, what, three years of practically nothing, and you come all the way over to stalk me and make fun of my outfit?"

"Yeah, 'cause I totally have nothing better to do right now." Falco laughed, "Relax, don't get your panties in a knot. I wanted to catch you before you started your shift. You got a minute, or am I too late?"

Miyu's blue eyes narrowed warily. She and Falco knew each other decently and had flown together occasionally back in their gangster days. Working for the ruthless Titania mob was brutal work, but it was the only life she had known. When she learned Falco had left to join Star Fox, it had inspired her to change her own stars and join the military, to use her skills towards something bigger than herself. What a mistake, she often thought bitterly. With Falco back right after the declaration of war, she could guess what this would be about.

"I'm not flying for them again." She answered dryly.

"I'm not asking you to." he shook his head, "Give me fifteen minutes. That's all I ask. I've never asked anything of you."

The young woman sighed, running a hand over the stripes between her tall ears. He had never steered her wrong before, and she had to admit she was curious now.

"You still drink coffee, ace pilot?"

* * *

The Kona Cafe was a little hole in the wall near all the major refineries and was the well-kept secret of the refinery workers in Azure Coastline. For a few meager credits, you could get a good cup of coffee and a ready-made breakfast sandwich from the express line, a must-have for hungry workers in a rush. The interior was simple, creaky wooden flooring, framed vintage photos of the coast lining the walls.

Miyu helped herself to her breakfast, adding salt, pepper and hot sauce to her egg, sausage and cheese sandwich as she listened to Falco.

"You were a damn good pilot when I flew with you back in the day, and I hear you were a rock star in the CDF." he went on, "We could seriously use a rock star right now. I guess you've seen the news by now."

"Everyone has." Miyu nodded somberly as she stirred cream and sugar into her coffee, "How could he still be alive? After all this time…" she sighed, suppressing a shiver as she remembered the intensity of the first Lylat War, "I told you already, Falco, I'm not flying again. Not for them, not for you. Maybe I was good then, but that was three years ago. I'm not going to be of much use to you now."

"That's bullshit, and you know it." Falco shot her an impatient glare, "You could _teach_ combat flying, and the Arwing is right up your alley." he sighed, "What happened, Miyu, why did you up and dump the CDF like that?"

"Does it matter?" her eyes were sharp, tail beginning to bristle with agitation.

Falco reeled it back, seeing how emotional her reaction was. "No…I guess not."

Miya sighed, relaxing a little. "Look it…I just couldn't pull myself into the cockpit again after that war. Getting back in for another one isn't exactly how I would have liked to revisit flying."

"Well, that's your choice, I guess." Falco nodded in disappointment, "It's a shame, really. You'da been a shoe-in for Star Fox."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" The feline laughed out loud, "Is _that_ was this song and dance is for!? Gimme a break, Falco, I'm not working for the CDF's golden boy like you."

"Look, if you wanna waste an opportunity I'm basically _handing to you on a fuckin' platter, _then that's on you." Falco's feathers ruffled with aggravation as he got up from his seat, "For fuck's sake, Miyu, I may not know what happened, but we're all in some serious shit right now, and the rest of us can't afford to waste our talents doing…what the hell do you do?"

"Cargo transportation."

"_Cargo. Transportation." _he threw his arms up, "Unbe-_fucking_-lievable! Well go ahead and hide in your truck while the rest of us fight for our lives." he forced himself to calm down, realizing from the uneasy glances he was making a scene.

He fished a card from his pocket with the Star Fox team emblem tastefully embossed on one side. Sliding it over to the somewhat shocked cat, he continued on is a much calmer tone.

"We've designed a new Arwing. It's lighter, so it's not as great on defense, but it's a _fast_ little bird. For what it's worth, I think you would be a perfect fit for it with your flying style. If you change your mind, we're pulling it out for a test run at noon. Don't be late."

Miya said nothing as he left, eyes fixed on the card. Curiously, she picked it up in her fingertips, flipping it over to note the address written on the back. Her hand balled into a fist in frustration, the card crumpling slightly. What did Falco know? They worked a few times here and there years ago, and when they parted ways, they didn't really keep in touch. He had no idea what she had been through in those following years. As she struggled to avoid the painful memories, she became aware of tears rolling down her cheeks. A surge of hot, shameful embarrassment struck her, and she quickly dried her eyes, not wanting to add to the already riveting public display she was sure Falco had created for her in his outburst.

She took a deep cleansing breath. Could she really bring herself to do this again?

"Fighting for our lives, huh?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **And there you have it! I really enjoyed getting a feel for the characters here, especially Falco. While he's cocky and hot-headed, being a part of Star Fox would surely have shaped him some and forced him to be a little more responsible and thoughtful of those around him, and that's what I aimed for. Let me know what you thought, drop a review if you're feeling generous, and keep an eye out for the next chapter!


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